New Milton Junior School retains ‘good’ Ofsted grade

NEW Milton Junior School has retained its ‘good’ rating after being praised by Ofsted inspectors.

Inspected over two days in December, the school earned plaudits for the way it nurtures and develops reading and maths skills.

Also highlighted was how it identified pupils who had been disadvantaged by the pandemic and compensated for the gaps in their learning.

Head teacher Kelvin Geary congratulated fellow staff and the 374 pupils at the Old Milton Road school for maintaining high standards amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

He told the A&T: “We are incredibly proud of the work we have been doing.

“We have worked really hard to ensure the education children received was of the highest quality we possibly can provide and are absolutely committed to continuing to do that.”

The Ofsted report noted pupils told inspectors New Milton Junior School was “the best school ever”, felt “safe, cared for and valued” while taking pride in their work and behaving well in class.

It was summed up as “a happy school where relationships between pupils and adults are strong”.

The curriculum was well designed and taught in a way that included all pupils, the report said, staff knew best how to deliver it and constantly strived to improve their teaching further.

They were also appreciative of senior leaders and spoke of how their wellbeing was supported and workload reduced.

Inspectors noted a particular strength of the school was its support for pupils with special educational needs and also personal development, boosted by trips to local universities, farms and cities such as London, and visits from local artists and Olympians.

Safeguarding arrangements were effective, staff reported concerns and they were immediately followed up by leaders and pupils learned how to stay safe in a variety of situations.

Inspectors flagged up one improvement, however, saying the school’s range of phonics programmes for the few pupils who have not mastered basic reading skills used reading books and resources that “do not work well together to meet pupils’ needs”.

It added: “Leaders should ensure that they use one systematic synthetic phonics programme and train staff to deliver this effectively.”

But it concluded: “New Milton Junior School continues to be a good school.”